AGRICULTURE: Pipe Dreams

A speculating fraternity, vaguely tagged
as "gamblers," has become the Administration's favorite whipping boy
for high commodity prices (TIME, Oct. 27). But speculators could
scarcely be blamed for the high price of tobacco, which almost doubled
since prewar. In tobacco, as in most commodities, the villain was
demand. Last week the villain was confounded.

To save dollars, Britain, the biggest foreign buyer of U.S. flue-cured
tobacco (54% of all flue-cured exports last year), abruptly canceled
$25 million of scheduled purchases. The price, which had already fallen
after earlier cancellations, began to approach...